


Severus Snape's Patronus

by manatee_patronus



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Graduation, Post-Lily and James' death, Pre-Harry's Arrival at Hogwarts, Sexual Content, Tickling, knismolagnia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-25
Updated: 2016-08-25
Packaged: 2018-08-11 01:16:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7869820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/manatee_patronus/pseuds/manatee_patronus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ravenclaw student Kira prepares to graduate, leave the castle that she has come to view as home, and start her new career at the Ministry of Magic. On her last night in Hogwarts, she spends a romantic evening with her Professor and lover, Severus Snape and learns something new about him and their developing relationship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Severus Snape's Patronus

Kira took one last bite of her treacle tart, told Allie that she would catch her later in Ravenclaw Tower, and then left the Great Hall. She could sense Allie’s inquisitive gaze over her shoulder as she tried to determine whether Kira was ditching her for a late-night rendezvous with a boy. Kira didn’t blush under her gaze; this time, it was only a bit of fresh air that she wanted.

She took a left and proceeded out of the great oak front doors, intent on a final walk around the grounds, since she would be graduating tomorrow. She traipsed down to the bank of the lake, warmed by the humid air and the cozy sight of Hagrid’s cabin light twinkling in the distance. She could just barely see Fang the boarhound at the window, panting and drooling.

Kira sat down by the water where she had spent so many hours with her friends, studying and writing essays. She couldn’t believe that tomorrow, she would be taking the traditional boat ride back across the lake to Hogsmeade to celebrate the completion of her magical education alongside her peers. The seven years had gone by like a dream, and much as she was excited to begin her new job as a junior officer in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, she would miss her life at the castle which had come to feel so much like home.

One thought cheered her as she gazed nostalgically across the lake and the surface of her memories. She wouldn’t be leaving _all_ of her life at the castle behind. In fact, her graduation would be liberating her to become closer than ever to the person she loved most at school…

The black surface of the lake glittered in front of her and she felt a sudden lightness in her heart. She turned to find the source of the light and saw the graceful silver doe, made entirely of light, cantering silently toward her from the direction of the castle. It slowed to a gentle trot as it neared her side, fixing her with its calm, globe-like stare.

The doe opened its mouth and out came the deep, dry voice of the man she loved: “My sweet girl, come join me in our room...We must celebrate your graduation and I have a surprise for you.” Once its message had been delivered, the doe dissolved into the fabric of the night, leaving a bright imprint on Kira’s eyes.

Kira flushed with pleasure as the soft night enfolded her once more. She would have to change her plans with Allie, but that was no problem: Allie dated Hugh Dane from Hufflepuff, so there were many nights that _she_ never returned to the common room either.

But she still had to send a message, to be polite. Well, two, really. Ever since she had mastered the Patronus charm, she’d gotten a kick out of using it to send messages even when it wasn’t strictly necessary.

First, to Allie: “Hey lady, I actually won’t be coming back to the Tower tonight. I’ll be staying with the boyfriend. But I’ll see you at breakfast!” After thinking through this message, Kira focused on the memory of carrying Allie and the rest of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team on her shoulders along with the rest of the Ravenclaws up to the Tower to party after Ravenclaw won the Quidditch Cup for the first time in 32 years. She smiled and muttered, “Expecto Patronum” while clutching her wand. Out of the tip sprung a silver manatee, which swam playfully through the air toward the castle and disappeared through the doors.

Next, to her lover: “I’ll be there in 10 minutes.” This time as she conjured her Patronus, she thought of the time he had first kissed her last year, just after class...she remembered the feeling of elation and disbelief as she dashed off to dinner afterwards...Again, the luminous manatee went galumphing into the night. She was halfway to the front doors when Allie’s silvery tiger came darting softly down the steps. It paused beside Kira, its lips parted, and Allie’s sarcastic voice spoke: “Have fun, you little whore.” Kira smiled and dashed the rest of the way up the steps and into the castle.

Kira made her way up several flights of stairs, down twisting corridors, past many ghosts who chose this quiet time to float around aimlessly, ignoring a portrait of a sinister-looking warlock on the fourth floor who asked her where such a nice-looking girl could be hurrying at this time of night. Finally, she came to the staircase concealed behind a tapestry, jumped the trick step as she ascended, and emerged in the seventh floor corridor. She strolled along until she came to the tapestry of dancing trolls with the bare stretch of wall opposite.

Kira had known about the Room of Requirement ever since her third year. Like many of the dodgier things at Hogwarts, she had learned about it secondhand from Allie.

There was an afternoon when Allie was on her way down to the Transfiguration classroom, where she had to turn in an essay on switching spells that she’d been unable to complete. There was a crucial gap in her notes (she had dozed in class that day) that prevented her from properly analyzing the possible ways these spells could backfire. She was pacing in front of the tapestry, trying with all of her might to remember this information, when a door popped into existence on the bare stretch of wall. Upon entering the room, Allie found a vast library, even bigger than the one downstairs, with many levels and ladders reaching up to the tops of the towering stacks. Most remarkable was the fact that on the nearest table, a book on switching spells lay open, turned to a chapter that gave Allie precisely what she needed to finish her essay before class.

Of course, being a Ravenclaw, Allie was quite clever; she knew that the appearance of the room and the fact that it produced exactly what she needed in that moment were not coincidences. After class that afternoon, she decided to come back and try an experiment before lunch. She was not sure whether she had found a hidden library that serviced researchers’ needs, or a room that serviced _any_ need.

She decided to test the room’s capacity to produce food. It had been a long time since she had had an enchilada, and she happened to be craving one that day. She paced in front of the blank space of wall, thinking of a cheese enchilada, her mouth watering. The door appeared once more, but when she walked inside, she did not find an enchilada waiting for her. Instead, she found a bare room with three doors on the wall opposite her. On each door was a poster advertising a different Mexican restaurant. Allie peeked through the middle door and saw a long, stone passage that curved out of sight ahead.

Because she had no more classes or pressing duties for the rest of the day, Allie followed the passage and eventually emerged in a sort of supply closet that ended up being in the women’s restroom of the Mexican restaurant advertised on the door’s poster. She ate and paid for her enchilada, found the door in the supply closet again, and walked back along the passage to the room. She was not surprised that the room had failed to produce the enchilada by itself - after all, that would have been a violation of Gamp’s Law.

Of course, she told Kira about the Room of Requirement that same night. They went back that weekend and experimented asking the room for all sorts of things...a place to relax, a book on magical creatures that the library didn’t have and Kira wanted to read, sexy lingerie for whenever they both got boyfriends...over the next few years, they kept the room a secret and didn’t use it all that often. But when they started dating, it provided them with the ideal place to spend the night outside of their dormitories.

Kira took a deep breath and started pacing back and forth. _I need our special room where he is waiting for me, I need our special room..._ Three times she repeated this back-and-forth trip, and on the third time, she stopped in front of a handsomely-carved, cheerful, red door (the longer that they occupied the room, the more imaginative she’d gotten at decorating it). Her heart swelling with joy, she stepped forward and pushed it open.

She stepped into her favorite place in the castle. Across the room was the soft bed, low to the ground but cozy. It was made with a soft, down blanket patterned with deep blue and green swirls (their house colors) and the bottom of the blanket was covered with a soft, microplush fuzz. On the left wall, a doorless passage led to a cheery combination kitchen/dining room. It did not supply its own food, but it did yield a helpful assortment of Tupperware containers that Kira took to the Great Hall, filled with her favorite foods, and brought back up with her. There they could be multiplied indefinitely by magic and stored for later consumption.

Beside the bed, on the same wall, a door led into the bathroom. Then on the right wall, a cozily messy bookshelf held a great deal of books that they used to entertain themselves while waiting for each other to arrive.

And sure enough, there he was, sitting in stiff expectation in one of the fuzzy brown armchairs by the window, his back not touching the seat as he read the _Evening Prophet_ . Severus Snape turned his pale, impassive face to her as she entered, and while his features did not precisely _change_ , his black, liquid eyes seemed suddenly to overflow in a way that she had come to associate with intense joy. They softened and crinkled at the corners, and when he spoke, his voice was a deep purr: “My beautiful girl...I am so proud of you.”

***

Even after a beautiful year and a half of happiness, Kira still occasionally had trouble recalling how she ended up with her Potions professor. She knew she had always admired him, brilliant and witty, darkly humorous - and reserved. A significant part of what attracted her to him was his mysteriousness and his stoic, self-imposed loneliness. The more she felt for him over the years, the more she wished to do something to fill the void that she sensed in him. Since they had started dating, he had opened up to her about his previous life as a Death Eater, and the heartbreak of losing Lily Potter two years before Kira had started at Hogwarts.

It all started sometime in Kira’s third year, when she started to stay behind after class, running little errands for Snape and helping him stow away the potion ingredients. There was a day when, as everyone began to clear out, Kira observed Snape carrying the class’s flasks of acne-curing potion to his office. He carried 2 flasks at a time, and at the rate he was going, it would take another several minutes at least to move the rest of the flasks.

Taking a deep breath, Kira stepped forward to Professor Snape’s desk, faltering as she reached for 2 of the flasks. Snape came hurrying back from his office and paused. He seemed confused as to why she was still there.

“I can help, Professor,” Kira stuttered, finally picking up 2 flasks. She knew that she was one of his favorite students. She was one of the best in the class, and he was always kind to her as he passed by and evaluated each student’s potion; her quiet diligence had earned his respect over the years, in spite of the fact that she was a Ravenclaw. Snape waved a hand dismissively and picked up 2 more flasks himself.

“No need, Miss Lehrer. I’m sure I can manage and besides,” he paused and looked back over his shoulder, “Haven’t you got any more afternoon classes?”

Kira shook her head. “Potions is my last class before dinner.” She did not put down the flasks and continued to watch Snape hopefully.

“Very well, then,” he said finally, still peering at her with his eyebrows raised as though he had never seen anything like her before. “If you insist, then follow me.” As he turned away with a swish of his cloak, she grinned and blushed.

“Why don’t you use the _locomotor_ charm to move the flasks, Professor?” Kira asked as she followed him into his office. It was lined to the ceiling with shelves of flasks and jarred slimy things that looked sinisterly like animal parts.

Snape was standing a few steps up on a ladder in the corner where two shelves met. As he stretched his arms to set the two flasks beside the others, his black robes strained against him in such a way that every bony aspect of him was thrown into sharp relief - his ribs, his skeletal arms, and a perfectly-firm-looking ass. As Kira approached him, she found herself seized with the childish desire to poke his unprotected sides.

“This glass is very fragile,” Snape responded, tapping one of the flasks with his finger. “I find that the _locomotor_ charm can be dangerously...imprecise, and often leads to smashed glass and spilled potion in the best of circumstances.” He turned on the stool and reached down for the two flasks she was holding. “That’s why…” he paused and looked curiously at her for a second, his black eyes boring into hers. Then, very strangely, he folded his arms across his stomach and took a step back on the stool.

“Everything OK, Professor?” Kira asked. She felt a little embarrassed. He was acting precisely as though she had actually reached out to poke him. _Could he tell I was thinking that? Can he read minds?_ That was the first time the idea had occurred to her.

He gave his head a little shake as though to clear it, and relaxed his closed stance on the stool. “Everything is just fine, Miss Lehrer,” he replied coolly. He seemed to recover his composure and immediately turned to set the flasks up on the shelf with the others.

Kira remained after class more often than not after that, and Snape always had something to keep them both busy. At the end of the errand, he would thank her curtly for her help and then settle down behind his desk to read.

After a few months had passed, Kira even worked up the courage to ask if she could remain after the errands were done. She had a free hour before she went to dinner, and she usually filled it by working on her homework in Ravenclaw tower. But Ravenclaw tower was seven floors away, and Snape’s dungeon was a 3 minute walk away from the Great Hall. “So I’d be able to get a lot more done if I just worked on it here, Professor,” she told him, looking down and shuffling her feet humbly. To her surprise, Snape did not even take time to consider his options. He just nodded and waved a hand for her to take a seat with her school bag before immersing himself once more in his book. _Of course, he didn’t_ say _that he enjoys my company_ , Kira thought to herself. _But he may as well have._

At first, they would merely read in silence together, Snape behind his desk and Kira in one of the uncomfortable, straight-backed chairs in front of it. The only sound would be the rustle of turned pages and the occasional scribble of Kira’s quill if she was writing an essay. Over time, however, little conversations blossomed between them, as though the initial silence had merely been incubating their friendship and making it more ripe. Surprisingly, it had been Snape who had first broken the silence, closing his book and looking up almost resignedly, like Kira had been the one who had ordered him to stop reading. Placing the tips of his fingers together meditatively, he asked, “What are your plans after Hogwarts?”

Kira set down her quill and met his gaze, astonished but pleased. “Hmm, I don’t know,” she said. “I guess I was thinking something in the Ministry. Did you know what you wanted to do at my age?”

Snape nodded. “Always knew that I wanted to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts; it was and still is my favorite subject - what is yours?”

“Potions, of course,” Kira responded in an exaggerated voice, flashing a wide-eyed grin.

Snape nodded his head a few times while rolling his eyes, as though to say, _How stupid of me to ask that question and expect an impartial answer._ “But actually,” he peered over at her under half-lowered eyelids. “Which one is _really_ your favorite?” After a moment of hesitation, his pale face split into a sensual grin. “I promise I won’t become jealous.”

Kira laughed. All the tension in the room had gone. She may as well have been talking with her friends at dinner. “Well,” she began in a sing-song voice, looking up and to the right as she thought it over, “I wasn’t lying. I _do_ like Potions...however, I’d have to say...it ties with Charms.”

Snape assumed a look of mock outrage and placed his palms flat on either side of his book. “Charms?!”

Kira giggled and shrugged her shoulders.

Snape suddenly pushed himself to his feet and strode around his desk. Kira felt her heart pound with excitement as he sat on the edge of his desk, barely a foot from her. He leaned forward until their faces were very close. “Such a soft subject, Miss Lehrer?”

“ _Soft?_ ” Kira scoffed, trying to keep her composure and not back away, staring directly into the cold black eyes that reflected her green ones. “I wouldn’t say Charms is _soft_ , Professor - maybe it is if you compare it with a subject that’s all about combat and defense. Perhaps I just don’t have as much _..._ war...in me as you do.”

Snape nodded thoughtfully. “That may be so,” he commented pensively. “I am not ashamed to admit that I have experienced much conflict in my life.”

A moment of silence followed. Heavy things settled that neither of them felt comfortable addressing yet, though the silence itself was not uncomfortable. It was as though they both sat at a window, watching snow fall outside without commenting on it. In the absence of something to say, she wanted to reach out to him then, since he was so close. She felt a warmth emanating from him that she had never felt before and she was certain that he would let her kiss him if she just closed the small space between them. However, just on the brink of the moment when she considered acting on her thoughts, he sighed and lifted himself from the desk.

“It’s about time for us to head to dinner, Miss Lehrer.”

Kira gathered her books into her bag and, together, they walked through the dungeon corridors and entered the Great Hall together.

Her suspicion of his mind-reading abilities also grew over the years. The more time she spent with him, the more she found herself fantasizing about him during class. For whatever reason, she was increasingly aware of the fact that tickling was a central part of her sexuality. So she often fantasized about tickling Snape, or Snape tickling her. She knew, from his reaction in his office, that he was probably quite sensitive, which fed her imagination even more. She imagined him restrained in such a way that his feet, his thighs, and his stomach would be exposed and vulnerable to her, and she would take her sweet time teasing him and coaxing out the laughter that was so rare and resistant in him. He often looked over at her during the lecture, and once again his eyebrows would be knitted together in a bemused expression. He would never falter while lecturing, but she could tell that he noticed _something_ when he looked at her. Yet he kept allowing her to stay after class and help him. He must have liked something of what he saw.

She well remembered the day that her suspicions of his mind-reading abilities were confirmed. It was now a few months into her sixth year, and they were scrubbing out some of the cauldrons in one of the auxiliary dungeon rooms when he looked up and met her eyes across the room. At that point, she was thinking of what it would be like to kiss him. She imagined his cold, firm lips against hers. Then she imagined kissing his cheek and all along the line of his jaw until he giggled -

“Are you familiar, Miss Lehrer, with the concept of Legilimency?” Snape interrupted her thoughts with something like a look of amused consternation on his face.

Kira shook her head, nonplussed.

“It is the ability of a witch or wizard to probe and penetrate the thoughts of another,” he smiled to himself. “It is difficult to master and few wizards bother to learn it, but the Dark Lord was one who possessed such an ability. Simply by looking his followers in the eyes, he was able to tell whether or not they were lying to him.” Snape paused, then walked around the cauldron to close the distance between them. Regarding Kira with a most intense look of seriousness, he said, “It is an ability...which I, also, possess.”

Kira blinked and tried her hardest to assume a look of innocence. But after her suspicions, she was not really surprised. And being a very logical and clever person, she was not embarrassed either; if Snape had been reading her mind this whole time and had _really_ been upset or irritated by what he saw, then he would not still allow her to remain after class with him.

“That is fascinating, Professor,” she commented, when it seemed like he was waiting for her to speak. “I’m sure it comes in handy often, too. I suppose you must know whenever students are lying to you about why they haven’t done their homework.” She coughed in an attempt to suppress a giggle. Snape’s lips twitched, but he managed not to smile.

“Yes, it certainly does prove useful in that regard,” he answered, “But really, it is no _laughing_ matter, Miss Lehrer.” He smirked and strode back behind his cauldron.

Kira was sure that Snape’s emphasis on _laughing_ was no accident. She smirked herself and returned to her scrubbing.

***

The next week, Kira stormed into Potions after a terrible day. Nothing tragic happened, but it was one of those days that started with a stubbed toe and steadily grew worse with spilled milk, misunderstandings between friends, and a reminder in Transfiguration of an assignment due in 2 days that Kira had completely forgotten to start; it would take her all of tomorrow night to complete it, and she probably would have to skip sleeping. However, she managed to smile at Snape as she took her habitual place at a table at the front of the room. He returned her smile, his eyes crinkled in what seemed to be sympathy.

The rest of the class proceeded normally. Kira always enjoyed Potions, and she was able to forget some of her stress from the rest of the day as she prepared her Aging Potion. She noticed that Snape looked a little nervous, though. As he paced the room to look into everyone’s cauldrons, he kept twisting his hands beneath the long sleeves of his cloak, and his eyes looked far away.

The bell finally rang and everyone rushed out of the room. Kira sat with her head in her hands, relishing the fact that she was done with classes for the day. All she had left that evening was her time with Snape, dinner, and homework. In fact, now that she thought of it, she really didn’t have that much homework tonight, so she would be able to get a head-start on that assignment for McGonagall, and then sleep tomorrow night…

She was stirred from her thoughts by the warmth of large hands resting on her shoulders. She lowered her hands and looked up into Snape’s face. He let his hands slide down the length of her arms and then held her hands in his. After all of her fantasizing, this felt like the most natural thing in the world to Kira, but Snape looked very nervous, as though he expected her to back away at any instant.

Kira loosened her hands in his and held her palms flat against his own palms, comparing their size. His fingers were a full two inches longer than hers. She smiled and then, still sitting, gave him a great, big hug around the middle. She acknowledged to herself that it wasn’t the sexiest thing she could have chosen to do in the moment, but it was the first that occurred to her.

“So you really like me, then?”

Kira heard the small, shy voice, but it was so unlike anything she had ever heard from Snape’s mouth that she looked up to see whether he had actually spoken. He was peering down at her, his eyebrows raised quizzically, his lips drawn in an anxious frown.

Kira gazed at him incredulously. “Haven’t you been reading my mind all this time?” she said faintly.

Snape said nothing for a full minute, then his face slowly split into a goofy smile.

He slid his hands into her thick brown hair and turned her face upward. Then he leaned down and kissed her. She paid careful attention to the sensation while it lasted, which was about 30 seconds. She breathed in his scent, freshly laundered robes mixed with something distinctly masculine. She felt his bony body pressing against hers and his hand massaging her scalp and savored the way he clung to her with his lips.

           Needless to say, no productive Potions-related tasks were accomplished that day.

***

  


He stood and strode to the front of the bed, his black robes flowing behind him. She set down her purse by the door and walked to meet him. With sudden, surprising strength, he slid his hands beneath her arms and lifted her in the air. She gasped in surprise as he swung her around in a half-circle. Then, he slid his arm behind her head as he lowered her softly down to the bed. His cold fingers caressed her hair as he kissed her lips.

As she lay, momentarily dazed, he slid down and kissed her neck, her collarbone, and then the hollow between her ribs, her favorite place. She felt the delightful, light swooping there and giggled as she moved instinctively to cover her tummy with her hands, but he gently prised her wrists apart and pinned them to the bed before nuzzling her stomach again. She laughed more and struggled playfully. She loved when he pinned her down and imposed his strength on her in this gentle way - the shiver of vulnerability that passed through her as he pinned her wrists manifested as an immediate warmth and wetness between her legs. He smiled and uttered his unconscious sound of fondness that she loved hearing, a low, primal _hmmm_.

She reached up and slid her hand into his thick, silky black hair, loosely gripping it as she leaned up to kiss him again. Then she fell back and started unbuttoning the fastenings of his black robe. He reached up to help with his long, bony fingers, and soon he was sliding the soft black material down over his pale, bare shoulders, his collarbones jutting from his neck. He dropped his robes over the side of the bed and reclined on the pillow, idly watching her undress. As she struggled to pull her robes over her head, he reached out and tickled the exposed sole of her foot. She giggled and lurched away, nearly falling off the bed.

“So how has your day been?” she asked him as she unsnapped her bra and slid off her underwear.

Snape tilted his head slowly back and forth, pondering his answer.

“Average,” he replied finally. “I had to reprimand a few Gryffindor imbeciles who melted the cauldron they were sharing, but everyone was tolerable apart from that.”

She grinned at his stubborn grouchiness. She crawled up his body from the foot of the bed, her breasts brushing against his thighs as she kissed his stomach, his chest, and his neck. He trembled and shifted away from her as she planted a kiss above his navel. “You ought not to be so biased against the other Houses,” she murmured into his chin as he gathered her close against him. “I mean, you like me, after all, and I’m a Ravenclaw.”

“Yes, yes,” he muttered resignedly, “I know. But why must all of your peers persist in being such dunderheads?”

She laughed and kissed his cheek, cherishing the devilish smile that lit his pale features for a moment. “Probably because they’re terrified of you.” she responded after a moment.

He raised his eyebrow and looked her in the eyes. “Is that so?”

Kira felt her heart start pounding. He was going to punish her for making fun of him. “Uh-huh,” she blurted out and started scrambling away from him, giggling madly.

He sprang after her, reaching for and fumbling her ankle, but not quite grasping it. She squealed as she pulled it loose and jumped off the bed. “Uh-huh,” he repeated, chasing her around the foot of the bed, trying to trap her by the kitchen door. “I’m the big, frightening, intimidating professor, am I?”

Cornered, she faked him out by pretending to dash to the right, then ducked under his left arm. She called over her shoulder, “Yes, sir, that sounds about right.” Then she tripped on the carpet and tumbled on the bed.

“Oh, now I’ve got you!” he cried with relish. He was on her in a moment, flipping her over onto her back, pinning her legs beneath his body and her wrists up by her ears.

She panted and struggled beneath him, but he was too strong to throw off. “You sassy little rascal,” he crowed, his lip curling into a grin and his hair falling into his eyes. “Having the cheek to call me ‘sir’ after all of this time...Oh, dear...I’m afraid I can’t let you go without a little punishment.” He leaned toward her ear and she giggled preemptively, trying to squirm away. “Nononono! Not my ears!” she squealed, tossing her head back and forth.

“Oh my poor, ticklish girl,” he cooed, kissing the jutting bone of her jaw. She gave a little trill of laughter and a soft, contented sigh. “I suppose I could let you up...if you apologize.”

She blinked and gazed up at him from beneath her lowered eyelids. “I’m sorry,” she said finally, her face impassive. “...sir,” she added suddenly, cackling under her breath.

He wrapped his lips around the lobe of her left ear and started kissing, licking, whispering...She laughed uncontrollably as his tongue darted in and out, tickling her so unbearably that she would have wanted to jump out of her skin if it wasn’t also so pleasurable. The wetness of his tongue and the brush of his rough lips against her soft ear caused her to shrug her chin away as she gasped for breath, but her head was pressed against the bed so she couldn’t hide her ear. “There’s no escape!” he whispered in her ear as he continued to lick and kiss, “Tickle...tickle...tickle…”

“Shut up!” she shrieked as her giggles intensified again. He knew that it drove her crazy to tease her verbally, so he kept doing so, reminding her that she was trapped beneath him, and that all she could do was lay there and giggle as he kept tickling her…

“Ok!” she finally gasped between laughs. “I’m sorry! hahaha, stop!” She breathed deeply as he pulled his lips away from her ear, sighed with pleasure as she felt them roam over her cheek and settle on her lips. Simultaneously, his weight shifted off of her legs. He planted his knees on either side of her body, and suddenly she felt the warm, hard flesh of his penis tease pleasurable circles around her clitoris. She arched her back and moaned. As he settled lower over her chest, kissing her more passionately, she felt his penis slide down easily toward her vagina.

“Ah,” he exhaled contentedly. “You are quite wet.”

She gasped as he slid in and filled her up. “That’s because you turn me on.”

He kissed her neck and reached up to stroke her hair as he moved rhythmically up and down. “I enjoy making you feel good and turned on,” he whispered near her ear, and she giggled again and turned her head away.

As they rocked against each other, they built up a pleasurable momentum. Each of his thrusts propelled his rock-hard cock into her G-spot, flooding her with waves of pleasure. Her delighted moans turned him on even more, and the inner wall of her vagina pleasantly teased the very sensitive tip of his penis. He began to shudder as he thrust faster and faster. Kira placed her hands on his lower back and lightly stroked up and down as they moved. Finally, after a few minutes, his face contorted and he stiffened, his back arched over top of her. She felt him release inside of her.

He collapsed, sweating, beside her. As he closed his eyes, she jumped into action and clamped her legs on either side of his, tickling his sides. Snape’s eyes sprang back open and he jerked around beneath her, trying to catch her hands, all the while giggling uncontrollably in his low voice (which was shockingly sexy) and begging her to stop. She knew this was kind of a low blow. He was always extra-sensitive just after an orgasm.

She stopped tickling, and allowed him to continue holding her wrists as he caught his breath. Finally, his eyelids lifted and he peered out almost shyly from underneath them, his mouth still open.

He patted his right arm with his left hand and Kira eased herself down so that her head was resting on his arm. She kissed his chin and he snickered and shivered away. Then he faced her and nuzzled and kissed the top of her head.

“Oh, just a moment,” he said suddenly, his index finger in the air. “Do you have your wand? We need to do the charm - “

“Oh yes!” Kira was surprised she had forgotten. She reached over to the bedside table where her wand was sitting. Pointing it at her own stomach, she muttered, “ _Contraceptus._ ” She felt a little tickle underneath her skin that tingled all the way down to her vagina. This charm was the only infallible method of avoiding pregnancy.

“So did you have a nice last day?” Snape asked her.

“Yes,” she said meditatively. “Though of course it was a little sad, knowing that this was my last day as a student. A whole phase of my life is over. It was fun to do the dueling though, in Defense against the Dark Arts,” she grinned at the memory of the duel she had won earlier that day, against a cocky boy from Ravenclaw that she had never liked.

“What did you do to the poor fool they paired you with?” Snape asked with amusement, stroking the valley between her breasts with two fingers and causing her nipples to stand up.

“Blocked his Jelly Legs jinx and disarmed him, but one of his friends managed to catch his wand and throw it back to him. So then he hit me with Tarantallegra, but I was able to do _Finite incantatem_ before I fell over. Then I hit him with silent incantations of _Rictusempra_ and _Petrificus totalus_ one right after the other.”

Snape looked around at her with an expression of faint horror. “How depraved. How long was he immobilized?”

“Not long,” Kira assured him. “Everyone congratulated me on winning the duel, and after about 15 seconds his face started to turn red from not being able to laugh. So then the Professor did _Finite incantatem_ and of course he was perfectly OK.”

They laughed again and then lay quietly together for some time.

                “Are you nervous about leaving?” Snape asked her, reading her thoughts as he always did.

                She hesitated for a moment, but then her, “Yes!” seemed to burst from her lips like water from behind a dam. “I’m nervous that they’ll hate me at the Ministry, that I won’t do a good job, and then I’ll get fired and have no prospects. I’m nervous that Allie and I will grow apart since she’s going to go abroad and do research for the Department of Mysteries, and then she’ll get married and have kids – and I don’t want kids – and then we’ll have nothing in common anymore and she’ll be too busy to see me and,” she inhaled deeply – Snape watched the words pouring from her lips, looking slightly alarmed. “And I’m worried that living together will put a new stress on our relationship, that we’ll argue over stupid stuff like how you chew your food, and ultimately – ultimately you’ll grow tired of me because I’m not Lily.”

                She stopped, panting, and immediately anxiety began to set in – she had said too much. To her surprise, however, Snape looked satisfied.

                “It is good that you communicated these worries to me,” he told her in his comforting purr. “Now let me assuage each and every one of them.” He propped himself up on his elbow and peered directly into her eyes with his dark, black ones. “You will be brilliant at work. Brilliant. I know, and you can know that I’m not lying, because I am your professor as well as your lover, and so I have seen how you negotiate challenges all throughout your seven years here. You persevere where others give up, you are kind and soothing – which are both necessary qualifications for dealing with magical creatures – and you remain clear-headed in stressful situations. Remember your NEWT exam?”

                Kira nodded. How could she forget? The same Ravenclaw boy that she had dueled with earlier today had been testing a few cauldrons away from her. While she was rustling around at the counter for potion ingredients and while none of the examiners were looking, he had cast a delayed shrinking charm on her cauldron, so that just when her Dimitto Draught (a potion to induce forgiveness) began to boil and bubble, her cauldron started to diminish in size, threatening to overflow. However, his prank had backfired, as Kira had had the presence of mind to duplicate her cauldron, levitate the shrinking cauldron, and cause it to pour its contents into the uncharmed duplicate cauldron, all in a matter of 4 seconds, before a single drop had spilled on the ground. She had received extra good marks, and the Ravenclaw boy had gotten two detentions for sabotaging her potion.

                “Next,” Snape continued, “About Allie. I can’t promise you that you two won’t grow apart,” he said flatly. “But I can promise you that even if you grow into different values, there will be plenty of other witches and wizards at the Ministry who _do_ share your values, so you will never be friendless as long as you continue to be open to new friends.”

                “Finally,” his tone grew quiet and Kira felt apprehensive. “There has _never_ been a time, throughout my seven years of knowing you, that I wanted you to be Lily instead of yourself. You are two entirely different people, and everything about our relationship is new and beautiful, nothing is recycled or reused. And what’s more, Lily had negatives – one, she never cared for me the same way I cared for her, and even if she hadn’t been killed, that would never have changed. That’s something that took me a while to come to terms with. Then, she was caught up in her own popularity, she was impatient, she was very prideful. Needless to say, these were some of the things that propelled us apart, particularly when I called her that unforgivable word, when I was being tormented as a boy.”

His eyes grew hollow as he meditated on that terrible day. He gave his head a bit of a shake and continued. “In any case, lately I have felt my grief diminish. She has lost her hold on me, and thanks to you, has become a memory I can look on fondly and without…significant…pain. And speaking of that,” he smiled, surprising her. “This is the surprise that I wanted to show you.”

He sat up in the bed and picked up his wand from the bedside table. “You know how my Patronus is a doe, how Lily’s also took that form,” he said.

Kira nodded, remembering the doe from earlier in the evening.

“Well, a wizard’s Patronus is subject to change with any great emotional upheaval or evolution, and sometimes that process is very gradual. Lately, I have noticed that my Patronus occasionally takes a very _different_ form. I was mystified by this, until I took some time one day to cast the charm over and over and figure out what the new animal was. For a while after that, both Patronuses would appear equally as often, but now, I can actively control which one appears.” With that, Snape waved his wand, closed his eyes, and murmured, “Expecto Patronum.”

Out of his wand burst her sparkling silver manatee, which swam delightedly through the air above them. It circled around the light in the ceiling, and then floated gracefully down toward them before vanishing once more.

“My manatee!” Kira exclaimed, smiling widely.

Snape nodded. “I sent the doe earlier so that I could surprise you with this,” he said, nodding toward where the manatee had disappeared. “The transformation might have something to do with the fact that whenever I cast the charm now, I always draw on memories that you and I have made together. That manatee is made from the life we have built together, and I know it will continue to grow more and more powerful as we keep making memories.”

Kira didn’t know what to say, she was so touched. She hugged Snape around the middle as he settled back into the pillows. “Thank you for the beautiful surprise,” she whispered to him.

They said, “I love you,” to each other and turned off the lights. As Kira lay in the dark, breathing in his magic-smelling skin, she imagined an eternity with him and felt nothing except excitement and joy. “We’re going to make the strongest Patronus anyone’s ever seen,” she breathed.

***

                The next day, Kira stepped down the steep shore to the water with Allie at her side and other black-robed students beside her. Some of them chatted excitedly, but most of them were silent and somber, heavy with a nostalgic grief for the shadows of their younger selves.

                As they had planned last night at dinner, Kira and Allie leapt quickly into a boat and then used propelling charms on either side of the boat so that they could push off before any other students got in. They laughed at their small act of wickedness, and at the indignant expressions on the other students' faces as they queued up at the shore. It was too late to get detention, though, too late to lose House points. This was their last departure from the castle as students, and when they reached the far side of the lake, they would be students no longer.

                The sun beat down on their necks, and Kira adjusted her pointed hat so that it would protect her face. Despite the sun, a gentle breeze comforted them, lifting the back of their hair and rippling through their robes.

                “Look,” Allie pointed out. Up ahead, a sort of boardwalk had been conjured, jutting out into the water alongside the path that the boats would be taking. Every single professor and member of staff stood on the boardwalk in a straight line, waving at them as they went by. Some of the professors gave out messages to particular students as they passed by. Professor McGonagall, her stoic face dotted with tears, called out to Allie, “Remember what I told you in your Career Advice session, Allie, and remember to keep in touch!”

                “What did she tell you during your Career Advice?” Kira asked her. Allie started to answer, but was interrupted by a painful howling noise.

                Kira looked over and saw Hagrid standing with Fang on the boardwalk, sobbing his eyes out and drawing the exasperated stares of Professors Flitwick and McGonagall on either side of him. Abandoning all dignity, Hagrid leapt into the water – it was only about waist height still – and trudged with difficulty over to their boat. As soon as he reached them, he enwrapped them both in a bone-crushing hug which threatened to tip their boat over. “I hate these dumb leavin’ ceremonies, they make me so sad.“ he moaned. “Promise me yeh’ll come visit sometimes.”

                “Of course we will, Hagrid! Once a week at least!” they said together. “And you come visit us, too. We can show you around in the Ministry. Well, Allie can’t,” Kira said. “But I know how much you love magical creatures, so I can show you my Department.”

                “It’s a date,” Hagrid smiled underneath his wild beard, dried his tears, and waded his way back to the boardwalk, his pants dripping as he climbed back out of the water.

                Severus Snape was the second-to-last person on the boardwalk. He looked out benignly at all of the students as they went by, and waved slowly and lazily, but said nothing, not even to Kira. “What’s up with your boyfriend? Did you all fight last night?” Allie joked.

                Kira shoved her playfully. “No,” she said. “I think he might just rather not choose this moment to trumpet our relationship in front of everyone.”

                “See, that’s where we’re different,” Allie said, lowering herself down into the bottom of the boat and stretching out her long legs, “I want the kind of relationship that I _can_ trumpet about and rub in other people’s faces. I want my man to shout his love for me from the mountaintops!”

                “I LOVE YOU, BABE! MEET US IN THE THREE BROOMSTICKS WHEN YOU GET ACROSS!” Hugh Dane, Allie’s Hufflepuff boyfriend, hollered at her from basically the far side of the lake, leaning out of the boat that he was sharing with four other Hufflepuff guys. He was a bulky guy, formerly on the Quidditch team, and Kira had always teased Allie about him being a little dimwitted.

                Allie winced at his hollering but then waved back and said, “OK, I love you, too!”

                The very last professor on the boardwalk, of course, was Albus Dumbledore, his silver hair and the golden embroidery on his purple cloak glittering in the midday sun. He grinned and waved at all of them, calling out “Good luck!” every so often so that all of the students in each boat could hear him.

                Finally, after about 25 minutes of leisurely sailing, the boats arrived on the far side of the lake. All of the students disembarked, and the empty boats immediately began their backwards journey toward the castle. There was a loud _bang!_ Many of the students jumped and looked around. All of the professors on the boardwalk had simultaneously sent up different colored sparks from their wands that exploded like fireworks far above them, now raining down in blue, purple, and green streams – the air suddenly smelled of gunpowder. The students yelled and cheered and then the moment passed; they continued up the path toward the village of Hogsmeade and their own futures.

                Kira followed Allie along the path, but a strange feeling made her stop and wait a minute. As Allie continued on for a few steps, not realizing that she had left Kira behind, Kira turned and saw a silver gleam, barely visible in the sunlight, drift towards her from the water. As it moved above the gray stones of the shore, she was able to discern that it was her sprightly, silver manatee, swimming through the air.

                It glided to a halt in front of her and its mouth opened. “Enjoy the celebrations, my dear,” the voice of her lover spoke. “And I’ll see you at home this evening.”


End file.
